Abeka Book, LLC, known as A Beka Book until 2017, is an American

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

affiliated with

Pensacola Christian College Pensacola Christian College (PCC) is a private Christian college in Pensacola, Florida. Founded in 1974 by Arlin and Beka Horton, it has been accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools since 2013. History Ar ...

(PCC) that produces K-12

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

materials that are used by

Christian school A Christian school is a Parochial school, religious school run on Christianity, Christian principles or by a Christian organization. These schools often include religious education and worship in their curriculum. They may also have a distinct Ch ...

s and

homeschooling Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...

families around the world. It is named after Rebekah Horton, wife of college president Arlin Horton. By the 1980s, Abeka and BJU Press (formerly Bob Jones University Press) were the two major publishers of Christian-based educational materials in America. Its books have been criticized for lack of academic rigor and misinformation on scientific and historical subjects.

History

The company started in 1972 as A Beka Book. In 2017, the company rebranded as Abeka. The video program Abeka Academy is on DVD and streams on the web.

Accreditation

Abeka's video program (Abeka Academy) and the Traditional Parent-Directed program are accredited by the

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, also referred to as the Middle States Association or MSA, is an accreditor in the United States. Historically, it has accredited schools in the Mid-Atlantic states region of the northeas ...

Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools (MSA-CESS) and by the

Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools The Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (FACCS) is an organization that accredits Florida's Christian schools. It holds teachers conventions and annual competitions for its member schools. It is a member of the National Council ...

(FACCS).

Criticism

Some Abeka textbooks have been criticized by educators as lacking

academic rigor The scholarly method or scholarship is the body of principles and practices used by scholars and academics to make their claims about their subjects of expertise as valid and trustworthy as possible, and to make them known to the scholarly publi ...

and taking contrary or reactive positions toward their subject matter. Experts from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

and

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

in 2018 criticized the content of Abeka textbooks as being markedly more simple and less challenging than the content of comparable textbooks used in public education. Abeka history books are dramatically different from mainstream books, especially on matters of race. A section of the high-school textbook ''United States History: Heritage of Freedom'' is entitled Birth of a Nation, evoking the 1915 film of the same name that glorified the Ku-Klux-Klan. Other extreme Christian Nationalist rhetoric goes so far as to describe slavery as "black immigration". Abeka takes Biblical literalist and

young Earth creationist Young Earth creationism (YEC) is a form of creationism which holds as a central tenet that the Earth and its lifeforms were created by supernatural acts of the Abrahamic God between about 10,000 and 6,000 years ago, contradicting established ...

positions in its science curriculum, teaching the

Genesis creation narrative The Genesis creation narrative is the creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity, told in the book of Genesis chapters 1 and 2. While the Jewish and Christian tradition is that the account is one comprehensive story, modern scholars of ...

as a literal and factual account. An Abeka science book denounces evolution as a "retreat from

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

." In 2006 the

Association of Christian Schools International The Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), founded in 1978, is an international organization of evangelical Christian schools. Its headquarters are in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It offers tiers of oversight, from school accredit ...

sued the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

after the university rejected school credits based on books published by Abeka and one similar publisher. In the case of '' Association of Christian Schools International v. Roman Stearns'', a judge upheld the University of California's finding that the books are "inconsistent with the viewpoints and knowledge generally accepted in the

scientific community The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many "working group, sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional acti ...

Tax status ruling

Between 1988 and 1996, Abeka Book held

tax exempt Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...

status, because its profits were channeled into PCC as a tax-exempt religious organization or educational institution. In January 1995, the U.S.

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

ruled that the college's publishing arm was liable for taxes as a profit-making entity. The IRS further ruled that the profits of the publishing arm benefited the organization as a whole, because both A Beka Book and PCC were run under the same organization and that all of the profits of A Beka Book went directly to PCC, constituting 60% of the college's income. The effect of this ruling rendered the publishing company ineligible for future tax exempt status. Although PCC was ultimately cleared of any liability for back taxes, PCC paid the estimated $44.5 million, and A Beka Book paid another $3.5 million.

References

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Abeka Abeka Book, LLC, known as A Beka Book until 2017, is an American publisher affiliated with Pensacola Christian College (PCC) that produces K-12 curriculum materials that are used by Christian schools and homeschooling families around the world. ...

Christian publishing companies Companies based in Pensacola, Florida 1972 establishments in Florida Publishing companies established in 1972